The Internet Photoshops A COVERGIRL Ad In Protest Of Domestic Violence In The NFL

Sonya Eskridge is a writer from Maryland, who started her news career in radio at the age of 17. After graduating from Virginia Tech, she went on to write for a national publication where she was able to mold her personal voice. Always looking for ways to inform on important issues—or share her love of nerdy and girly things—Sonya thoroughly enjoys writing about a wide range of subjects.

CoverGirl has gotten caught up in the middle of a social media push to get Roger Goodell booted from his position in the NFL and protest domestic violence.

The easy, breezy, beautiful brand has taken a serious hit with its latest campaign aimed at ladies that love football. It fell victim to extremely poor timing (or just plain old inept marketing) this weekend, when it put out a makeup look inspired by Ray Rice’s former team the Baltimore Ravens. It was posted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pintrest as one of many “official team makeup looks” for the “Get Your Game Face On” series.

My question: Who thought it was a good idea?! Given the recent domestic violence scandal surrounding Ray and his wife Janay Rice, it might have been better for COVERGIRL to hold off on unveiling this particular look (if they weren’t going to scrap it entirely).

Once the ad was online, someone edited the ad to give the model a black eye. Who could have seen that coming? Everyone but COVERGIRL and the NFL. This is the original ad:

Naturally, the image went viral! It was soon attached to the hashtag #GoodellMustGo because a lot of people believe that the NFL commissioner has not done enough to take a stand against domestic violence and hold players that hit women accountable for their actions.

The altered ad left COVERGIRL scrambling to explain that they are not the ones that put the new image out. The corporation also wanted to clarify the original mission of their partnership with the NFL and point out that they have urged the leaugue to take a stand for its female fans.

“As a brand that has always supported women and stood for female empowerment, COVERGIRL believes domestic violence is completely unacceptable,” the company said in a statement on Facebook. “We developed our NFL program to celebrate the more than 80 million female football fans. In light of recent events, we have encouraged the NFL to take swift action on their path forward to address the issue of domestic violence.”